Seamus Power is just four shots off the lead after the Waterford man shot a three-under 68 on day one of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook in Florida.
Among the early starters, Power opened with a birdie on the par-5 first and added another at nine as he cruised through the first half of the round, hitting all nine greens in regulation. He’d miss his first green of the day on the par-4 12th but, after finding the greenside bunker, holed a 20-footer to remain bogey-free but his second missed green of the day came on 13 and this time he’d miss the par putt to slip back to -1.
Innisbrook is one of the tougher courses on the Florida swing, and asks strategic questions galore, but still, having played excellently, one-under was scant reward for 13 holes, even more so when he could only par the par-5 14th and entered the treacherous ‘snakepit’ – as the closing four holes are known, due to their difficulty and potential to be card-wreckers.
Not so for Power, however, who birdied the par-3 15th after a 219-yard approach to 10 feet, and then added another on the par-3 17th, this time holing a 45-footer after playing away from the dangerously tucked pin. He’d close out the day with a par at the last, signing for a three-under 68 that would see him end the day tied for 13th.
Kevin Streelman takes first round leader honours after the 2013 winner shot a bogey-free, seven-under 64 to lead Kevin Roy by one. Interestingly, the pair of Kevins are among seven who share the first name competing this week, an all-time record for Kevins in a PGA Tour event per Justin Ray on ‘X’.
Adam Svensson, Carl Yuan and Peter Malnati are tied for third at -5, with a further seven players sitting on -4.
Alongside Power at -3 are big names such as Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor. Jordan Spieth is one further back on -2, while two-time winner Sam Burns, widely tipped to feature heavily again this week, is currently straddling the cutline after a level-par 72.
“I didn’t really take anything from TPC Sawgrass,” said Spieth who missed the cut at the Players Championship. “I kind of look back to Bay Hill and think, okay, where am I really at, because I never really know leaving Sawgrass. It just — same stuff. I’m not doing anything different. It’s been a weird year. I’ve played well. I’ve had some weird circumstances that have kind of thrown some results out the window the last — I had the flu and a cracked driver, just random stuff that’s, like — so I’m kind of a little uncertain of where things are. So hopefully I feel a little more stable this week and can continue to shoot under par each round, because if you do, you normally have a chance on Sunday at this course.”
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